oh, look at the miniature TSA agents, with their little rubber gloves! It's so cute the way they use that little wand to violate those passengers' miniature civil rights...

She is also a poet. I'm not kidding.

Our Future
The globe is sadly groaning with debt, poverty and strife
And billions now are pleading to enjoy a better life
Their hope lies with resources buried deep within the earth
And the enterprise and capital which give each project worth
Is our future threatened with massive debts run up by political hacks
Who dig themselves out by unleashing rampant tax
The end result is sending Australian investment, growth and jobs offshore
This type of direction is harmful to our core
Some envious unthinking people have been conned
To think prosperity is created by waving a magic wand
Through such unfortunate ignorance, too much abuse is hurled
Against miners, workers and related industries who strive to build the world
Develop North Australia, embrace multiculturalism and welcome short term foreign workers to our shores
To benefit from the export of our minerals and ores
The world's poor need our resources: do not leave them to their fate
Our nation needs special economic zones and wiser government, before it is too late

Scheiss die Wand an!

All my kitties prefer the Hitachi magic wand.

For some fun, highlight the progress bar to get a video preview. Start at the end of the video, and slowly move your mouse to the left (beginning) to watch in reverse-fast-motion -- you get to see a dude with a magic wand turn a shotglass into a jawbreaker!

Sorry, but this needs some unnecessary censorship.

I've lived with _____ all my life and have been breeding ______ ____ for about five years now. I can absolutely guarantee the temperament of my _____. Playing with ____ is a great way to teach them where the lines are. Biting is OK, as long as it isn't hard. They can learn where that line is. I can play fight with my big boy Leo (7.5kg Ragdoll) and he mouths me but never hurts me. He never puts his _____ out and it's great fun. You can play with ____, but you do need to teach them where the lines are and be strict about stopping them when they do cross the line. Do this when they're little and they'll be great _____ when they grow up.
Indiscriminate play without teaching is where the problem is but play-fighting with a great big bundle of fluff is great fun and well worth the effort. I just find it a bit more interactive than a toy on a stick.>> ^robbersdog49:


That's better.

>> ^critical_d:
I would recommend not using your hand to play with the kitten. This can reinforce behavior (it's ok to bite fingers) and this will be a problem when they get older and are capable of doing real damage. Try using a feather wand or any of those cat toys that have a string on a stick design. This will still allow you to play interactively with the kitty and the cat will focus on the toy as "prey" and not your hand. A win-win situation for the both of you!
Let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to help.
More info:
http://www.perfectpaws.com/cat_training_and_cat_behavior.html
http://www.squidoo.com/cat-bites
>> ^messenger:
Question for experienced cat owners:
I love playing like this with kittens, especially encouraging them to bite me because I like how it tickles, and I find it cute how ineffectual it is. I've also heard that doing that trains cats to bite people whenever they play, a habit which they retain into adulthood and become those annoying cats that bite your guests. Is that really true, or is it just in the personality of the cat whether they'll bite as an adult?
Thanks!


I've lived with cats all my life and have been breeding pedigree cats for about five years now. I can absolutely guarantee the temperament of my cats. Playing with kittens is a great way to teach them where the lines are. Biting is OK, as long as it isn't hard. They can learn where that line is. I can play fight with my big boy Leo (7.5kg Ragdoll) and he mouths me but never hurts me. He never puts his claws out and it's great fun. You can play with cats, but you do need to teach them where the lines are and be strict about stopping them when they do cross the line. Do this when they're little and they'll be great cats when they grow up.
Indiscriminate play without teaching is where the problem is but play-fighting with a great big bundle of fluff is great fun and well worth the effort. I just find it a bit more interactive than a toy on a stick.

>> ^critical_d:

I would recommend not using your hand to play with the kitten. This can reinforce behavior (it's ok to bite fingers) and this will be a problem when they get older and are capable of doing real damage. Try using a feather wand or any of those cat toys that have a string on a stick design. This will still allow you to play interactively with the kitty and the cat will focus on the toy as "prey" and not your hand. A win-win situation for the both of you!
Let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to help.
More info:
http://www.perfectpaws.com/cat_training_and_cat_behavior.html
http://www.squidoo.com/cat-bites
>> ^messenger:
Question for experienced cat owners:
I love playing like this with kittens, especially encouraging them to bite me because I like how it tickles, and I find it cute how ineffectual it is. I've also heard that doing that trains cats to bite people whenever they play, a habit which they retain into adulthood and become those annoying cats that bite your guests. Is that really true, or is it just in the personality of the cat whether they'll bite as an adult?
Thanks!



I've lived with cats all my life and have been breeding pedigree cats for about five years now. I can absolutely guarantee the temperament of my cats. Playing with kittens is a great way to teach them where the lines are. Biting is OK, as long as it isn't hard. They can learn where that line is. I can play fight with my big boy Leo (7.5kg Ragdoll) and he mouths me but never hurts me. He never puts his claws out and it's great fun. You can play with cats, but you do need to teach them where the lines are and be strict about stopping them when they do cross the line. Do this when they're little and they'll be great cats when they grow up.

Indiscriminate play without teaching is where the problem is but play-fighting with a great big bundle of fluff is great fun and well worth the effort. I just find it a bit more interactive than a toy on a stick.

I would recommend not using your hand to play with the kitten. This can reinforce behavior (it's ok to bite fingers) and this will be a problem when they get older and are capable of doing real damage. Try using a feather wand or any of those cat toys that have a string on a stick design. This will still allow you to play interactively with the kitty and the cat will focus on the toy as "prey" and not your hand. A win-win situation for the both of you!

Let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to help.

More info:

http://www.perfectpaws.com/cat_training_and_cat_behavior.html
http://www.squidoo.com/cat-bites

>> ^messenger:

Question for experienced cat owners:
I love playing like this with kittens, especially encouraging them to bite me because I like how it tickles, and I find it cute how ineffectual it is. I've also heard that doing that trains cats to bite people whenever they play, a habit which they retain into adulthood and become those annoying cats that bite your guests. Is that really true, or is it just in the personality of the cat whether they'll bite as an adult?
Thanks!

The story (roughly translated from http://bgame.web.fc2.com/pulirula/pulirula.html):

This is the mysterious country of Radish Land. In each village, guards watch over the Screws of Time, which keep time flowing smoothly. However, one day an evil person appeared who sought to capture time by stealing the Screws of Time. One by one he attacked the villages and stole the screws, stopping time in the villages he took them from. If unstopped, time will stop completely across the land! But Zak and Mel, using magic wands invented by their grandfather, embark on a quest to save Radish Land.

if you could wave a magic wand to clone a car IRL, no one would call that theft

Do tell how I can hold google "accountable" in any meaningful sense. It's near impossible for me to avoid using their services. Hell, I don't even give them one cent directly and they still make billions.

As @NetRunner said, I don't want something as important as free speech left to the market to decide.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^ChaosEngine:

Yeah, we should entrust the web and free speech to corporations. Can't see any problems with that....

One you can hold directly accountable, one you have to hold accountable through a myriad of hoops and ladders...I choose the former. Look at what Oprah did to the meat industry back in the day...the consumer wand is a powerful thing. Neither way is perfect, but those looking for perfection need to deal with a different animal.

Political capital is much harder to gain for smaller issues. Law maintenance is a much harder order than terms of service. You can quit youtube anytime you want, you can't quit the FCC, or alcohol prohibition. If you are looking for easy, I suggest a different planet. The only things you get in this life are the things you fight to preserve, no amount of laws or terms of service will keep you safe over time, only vigilance.

Large corporate powers and political capital work by the same basic rules, I am just against a monopoly on the control of that power...I don't think it gets us what we all want. Really, we are arguing about crumbs under the table. All the videos gone from youtube still exist somewhere else. If Google starts acting evil on a wide scale, people can abandon it for some other site (I can name 6 off the top of my head). I would argue the out cropping of lots of different video sites is a safer way to prevent censorship than the FCC, which has a legendary record of censorship in the US...in fact, they are the face of censorship for most everyday Americans.

Once again, I am not proposing perfection, just a good imperfection that has its own very troubling problems. We all choose what failures we are willing to deal with, and for me, the trouble of dealing with a corporate body which I can choose not to partake in is a more agreeable situation (do you have a life after google solution, I do, I have a life after windows as well). I do concede a great threat by those who own nearly everything, undermining that ability to have options, lucky for us, with the internet we don't have to worry about that as much (the internet becomes unfathomable larger everyday).

TL;DR It isn't the ends I am against, it is the means.


</rant>
>> ^NetRunner:

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
>> ^ChaosEngine:
>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

FYI, governments have bad track records with keeping things open and free, ask Bradly Manning.

Yeah, we should entrust the web and free speech to corporations. Can't see any problems with that....

One you can hold directly accountable, one you have to hold accountable through a myriad of hoops and ladders...I choose the former. Look at what Oprah did to the meat industry back in the day...the consumer wand is a powerful thing. Neither way is perfect, but those looking for perfection need to deal with a different animal.

Right, because raising a popular movement against billion-dollar corporations any time they engage in censorship is much simpler than just maintaining a law on the books that says "communications companies can't limit people's free speech" and enforcing it...

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^ChaosEngine:
>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

FYI, governments have bad track records with keeping things open and free, ask Bradly Manning.

Yeah, we should entrust the web and free speech to corporations. Can't see any problems with that....

One you can hold directly accountable, one you have to hold accountable through a myriad of hoops and ladders...I choose the former. Look at what Oprah did to the meat industry back in the day...the consumer wand is a powerful thing. Neither way is perfect, but those looking for perfection need to deal with a different animal.


Right, because raising a popular movement against billion-dollar corporations any time they engage in censorship is much simpler than just maintaining a law on the books that says "communications companies can't limit people's free speech" and enforcing it...

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

FYI, governments have bad track records with keeping things open and free, ask Bradly Manning.

Yeah, we should entrust the web and free speech to corporations. Can't see any problems with that....


One you can hold directly accountable, one you have to hold accountable through a myriad of hoops and ladders...I choose the former. Look at what Oprah did to the meat industry back in the day...the consumer wand is a powerful thing. Neither way is perfect, but those looking for perfection need to deal with a different animal.

>> ^Bhruic:

Not killing things is fine and all, but if you're hitting stuff with a mace, you're not really a "pacifist". Just saying.
It's more of a wand with pointy things on it.